Asleep or Dead
by AllyWolfDragon
Summary: After Party Poison is killed, he wakes up in the Afterlife, having no idea what's going on. At that point, his only hope is a man who died ten years before him,a man named Jimmy Sullivan. But will they find their friends before heading to Heaven? R&R plz
1. Welcome Home

My eyes shot open once they closed back on Earth. It took me a moment to realize that I was . . . dead. Away from the terrifying, futuristic world that my planet had turned into.

I sat up, squinting my eyes against the bright sun, running my hand through my dyed, red hair. That was when everything flashed before me; me and the other Fabulous Killjoys speeding away in our old car from Korse and the rest of the BLI, rescuing Gracie countless times from them, and finally, rescuing her for the final time: The time that we were terribly out-numbered.

I stood up, a bit wobbly and dizzy. I blinked several times, smoothing out my blue leather jacket and dusting off my gray skinny jeans. As calm as I looked, I was trying my hardest not to go into panicking-and-freaking-out mode. _Gerard,__you__can__do__this.__You__'__re__freakin__' __Party__Poison!_

That was when I began checking out my current surroundings. Really, the only thing that was around me was a grassy field with flowers here-and-there. It seemed like a countless ocean of plants, which was something that had long vanished back home. _Home_. That was where I was far away from. So far away that I knew that I could never go back, never see my friends, never drive the awesome car that we called our own, the one with the giant spider on the hood.

I missed that car, but not as much as I missed the other Killjoys: Frankie "Fun Ghoul" Iero, Ray "Jet Star" Toro, Mikey "Kobra Kid" Way, who was also my younger brother, and Gracie, the main reason for our rebellion against the Better Living Industries. And even if they were still alive, they were without me, their leader, and their front-man: Gerard "Party Poison" Way.

I began walking on shaky legs, tears welling in my eyes. I was scared, and I had no idea where I was. I at least knew that Korse had shot me, and I hadn't survived. Maybe it was a trick. Maybe it was a stun-gun, and I was still on Earth . . . but there really was no possible way.

I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling cold. I felt so lonely, like I needed someone to hold me, or at least be with me. "H-Hello?" I mumbled in a hoarse voice. Someone would _have_ to hear me. I couldn't be the only soul in this unknown land . . . could I?

I stopped dead in my tracks as something momentarily blocked out the sun. I looked up to see a bat-winged shape gliding down, right towards me. This didn't look human, and I didn't really _want_ to find out what it was. So I did what I had been doing for most of my life: I ran. Ran like hell, like I had an unfathomable amount of energy.

It was catching up fast. Was it possible for me to die again? I looked back. It had landed in the grass on two legs, and had begun chasing after me. "Wait!" It called.

I was about to look back, but I was stopped by a rock in the earth that decided to trip me. After landing in the grass with a loud thud, everything went silent. I was laying face-first in the ground, so I didn't see what was standing above me. I reached for my gun, which was holstered on a leather strap on my thigh. But, ironically, it was _gone_. I had no way to defend myself.

So I just lay in the grass, hoping that the monster decided to leave me alone. "Are you okay?" An oddly high-pitched voice asked.

I began to get up, my body beginning to feel weaker as I propped myself up on my hands and knees. "No, I'm not okay!" That was when I realized that who-ever had spoken was the monster that was chasing me.

I spun around to see a . . . person. He looked to be about my age, but with spiky, black hair, ocean-blue eyes, and a pair of silver glasses on his nose and a silver, bead-like piercing below his bottom lip. He was dressed in a purple-and-black striped shirt, with tight black jeans and black sneakers. "Who are you?" I screamed, obviously startled.

"Hey, calm down," He said, "My name's Jimmy. Welcome to the Afterlife."

"Wait . . . the Afterlife?"

"Yeah! Let me guess: you've just heard the news that you're dead?" Jimmy reached his hand out as he stood up, and I nervously reached forward, surprised at how strong he was as he lifted me up to my feet. I nearly had to look up to him, since he was so tall and lanky.

"Umm . . . yeah. I guess you could say that." I reached my hand forward. "My name's Gerard, by the way."

"Well, you already know me as Jimmy," He shook my hand, and I couldn't help but smile back as he grinned.

"So . . . this is the Afterlife?"

"Yeah, I think so." Jimmy began walking, and so I followed. "I don't think that this is actually Heaven. It's like a purgatory, ya know?"

"I see what you mean," I said, sticking my hands in my jacket pockets. "It looks more like Heaven. Doesn't really seem like an in-between. It's beautiful here."

"Yeah, but it wasn't really what I thought it was. I kind of imagined it like an airport, like in _South__Park_."

"_South__Park_? What's that?" I asked, really having no idea what he was talking about.

"WHAT? You have never seen _South__Park_?" Jimmy stared at me like I grew an extra head.

"Yeah! Don't kill me, but TV's don't exactly exist anymore! Don't you remember? The BLI basically took over the world."

"What are you talking about?" I almost wanted to hug him; he looked like he learned about the death of a family member. Jimmy blinked a few times. "Gerard, what year did you die in?"

"2019."

Jimmy's jaw dropped. "Seriously? My time came in 2009."

Wow. That was when I realized what the problem between us was. "So . . . I died about ten years after you."

Jim continued walking, and I followed. "Yeah, man. That's pretty . . . cool, I guess. What's Earth like?"

"Well, from what I remember, it's a freakin' nightmare. There was this company, called the Better Living Industries, who wanted to make life better for everyone else. I don't really know what caused it, but they turned the place into a living hell. They killed tons of people, and pretty soon, my buddies and I were surviving on our own. We had other people scattered around California that could help us if we needed it, but other than that, we were on our own."

"Oh my God . . . I wonder if my friends are all right . . ." Jimmy looked pretty shaken up.

I squeezed his shoulder. "It's gonna be okay. You have _me_ to keep you company!"

"Oh dear God . . . not you . . .," He laughed sarcastically as I playfully glared at him. "There it is!"

I stared to where he was pointing. "What . . . Oh sweet Christ!"

Right in front of us was a massive tree with several small, house-looking buildings scattered around it on different branches. As we came up to it, I stopped and looked up. The tree had to be at least fifty-feet tall, and each house looked about as big as a large tree-house. "Welcome to my home!" Jimmy yelled as he opened up his black and purple wings, jumping up and gripping the branches with what appeared to be silver claws hidden among the feathers.

Jim stopped his climbing and looked down, noticing that I hadn't climbed up yet. "You comin'?"

"Holy crap! How am I supposed to get up there?"

Jim climbed down using _only_ his wings, and soon planted his feet against the main trunk of the tree, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked me deep in the eyes. "You have wings yourself, don't you?"

I didn't really noticed how close he was to me when I saw the beautiful blue color that his eyes were. I took a step back, my heart oddly racing. "Umm . . . I-I don't know . . ."

That was when my jacket began to feel oddly tight on me. I zipped it off, and right then and there, the most awesome thing happened: my own pair of golden-red wings popped out with a _woosh_. "Oh my . . . how did you do that?"

"Me? I didn't. Maybe it was your _imagination_!" He even moved his hands to make it look like he was holding a rainbow.

I laughed, holding my jacket in my hands, and realizing that the only thing I was wearing underneath was a black, baggy, wife-beater tank-top. "Now, can you show me how to get up there?"

"Well, let's see if you have _claws_ on your wings, like me." Jimmy delicately took the right one in his hands, running his hands through the soft, shiny feathers, leaving a tingling sensation that went all the way to my shoulders. "Wow. They're beautiful, Gee."

"Thank you." I found myself blushing and tried to hide it.

"I think I found them!" He tugged on what looked like a thumb, and felt like it, the way that he was pulling on it. "Try moving them, like hands."

Without thinking, I moved my own, human hands, and watched in awe as the wings moved like giant feathered arms. "This is amazing, Jim!"

"I know . . ." He let go of my wings, glanced at me, and then turned his attention back to the tree. "Now, just watch me, and follow my instructions."

I paid attention as Jimmy climbed up the tree, using his arms, legs, _and_ wings now. He stopped at looked down at me once he reached a wooden platform. "Now, your turn, Gerard."

I threw my jacket up, making sure that Jimmy caught it, (He did, and placed it behind him) and began my first try. I dug my claws into the bark, planting my feet on the tree, and using my arms to grab the branches that surrounded me. "I'm doing it, Jim! I-" I gasped as my claws grasped thin air; apparently I hadn't noticed a big chunk that was missing from the bark.

Freaking out, I began to fall back when Jimmy leaned forward at the last possible second and grabbed my wrist. "You need to watch where you put your claws!"

Embarrassed as hell, I smiled as he pulled me up onto the platform. "Thanks, Jimmy."

"No problem. Here's your jacket, too." He handed me my coat as I carefully folded in my wings, noticing that my new limbs had torn holes in the back of my shirt. "So, what do you think of the place?"

Now that we were in the main part of the area, I could see that this place was even more incredible than I thought; there were at least six small houses, each connected with platforms and bridges. A bigger one sat towards the back, and that one was obviously Jim's.

"So, the bigger house is mine, and that means that you can have any of the smaller ones."

"What? I called that one first!" I playfully called, already running across one of the bridges to the main building.

"Since when?" Jimmy laughed, quickly following me.

"MY MIND!"

Jimmy cackled like a maniac and flew above me, dodging the branches and making it to the building before me. "Hey! NOT FAIR!" I ran even faster, praying that the bridge wouldn't collapse under me.

"It is, too!" He smiled, landing on the platform in front of me, preventing myself from the door to the main house.

"Fine then, selfish jerk," I giggled, poking him in the chest and began walking to the left to another, smaller house.

I opened the door, and was surprised at what I saw. There was mainly a large, king-sized bed on the floor, with a blood-red bedspread and black and red striped walls. Two extra doors sat at the back, one apparently leading to a bathroom, and other to a closet. "Do you like it?" Jimmy came up from behind me, looking into the room.

"I love it! This is awesome!" I squealed like a little girl, dropping my coat on the floor and falling onto the bed. I kicked my boots off and stretched, hearing the satisfying cracks of my stiff, sore back. I sat up, noticing that my new friend was still standing in the doorway. "Thank you, for everything, James."

"James? How did you know that was my full name?" He smiled and stuck his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.

"Wild guess? Well, I figured that since your name was Jimmy, you're full first name was James."

We both just stared at each other, right in the eyes. It was almost like an awkward silence, but there was nothing awkward about it; it was almost like a _longing_ for each other. But why would I be having those kinds of feelings? I didn't like guys . . . _or__did__I_? I blushed once again, noticing that it was the first time that I felt like this in my whole life.

"Well, Gee, I'm gonna go. I have some things I need to take care of, so . . . just let me know if you need anything. Okay?"

"Okay, Jimmy. I'll see you later." I smiled to myself as he closed the door. Laying back down onto the bed, I put my hands behind my head and stared at the ceiling. Maybe this wasn't really Heaven, but it certainly was close to it.


	2. More Than Friends

Was it a nightmare? I couldn't tell, after waking up later in the afternoon, scared as hell. All I really knew was that I had taken a nap, since I was so exhausted. For some reason, I didn't really think that it would give me bad dreams.

But it seemed more like a vision. Like what was really happening on Earth. And it probably was; it seemed so _real_. In the vision, or dream, I watched nervously as Gracie was lead by two adults through a dirty, crumbling hospital. I noticed that I was standing among them, but they didn't see me. I followed anyway, eager to see what they were going to show her.

"Grace? Gracie!" I reached out towards her, only to watch in pure disappointment as my hand passed right through her shoulder. She simply shrugged off the feeling like a cold breeze.

They opened the door to a morgue. I stopped dead in my tracks; I knew what they were going to show her. An older woman with blonde hair put her arm around Gracie's shoulder as the man went to one of the caskets and slid it out of the metal rack. I knew who was under that sheet. I didn't want to find out if it was true, and it looked like Gracie felt the same. "Honey, come here," The man calmly said as Gracie nervously stepped forward. "Are you okay with this? Are you sure-"

"I want to see him! I might not be able to see him ever again!" She quietly said, her arms shaking.

The man pursed his lips as he slowly pulled the sheet back. I wanted to scream; my_body_ was under that sheet. My body was even more pale than usual, my eyes and mouth were closed. I certainly did not look alive and well. There was even a scar on my left jaw from when Korse had shot me. "I-is it really . . . Gerard?"

"I'm afraid so, Gracie," The woman said as the little girl that I cared so much about broke down in tears. "I'm so sorry."

"W-what about Frankie? Or M-Mikey? Even Ray?"

"We weren't able to recover them." The man said.

She continued to cry, and pretty soon the two doctors left Gracie to herself. To be alone for the final time with her best friend, the man who had rescued her countless times, the man that was like a real _brother_ to her. I dropped to my knees in shock as she rested her head and arms on my cold chest, crying and crying. I could never be there for her, never make her laugh and keep her comforted.

I found the strength to stand up and walk over to her. "I'm sorry," I whispered, gaining enough energy to actually touch her back and kiss the top of her head. As I backed away, she looked around. It was like she knew that I was there.

I sat against the wall at the top of the bed, my knees curled up to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. I sat there, shaking and crying, remembering that I had witnessed Gracie seeing me for the final time in the morgue. And I might not be able to ever see her again.

I stood up and walked over to the door; I needed to talk to Jimmy about this.

The sun began to set as I quickly walked across the bridge to Jimmy's house. I stopped when I heard loud rock music coming from the inside. "_YOU__'__LL__DIE__AS__YOU__LIVED,__IN__THE__FLASH__OF__THE__BLADE_!" The sound of Jim's voice singing along made me smile. I knocked on the door, and the music stopped. It soon opened to show him pulling a pair of pants up and drying his hair with a towel at the same time. It was obvious that he had just got out of the shower. "Oh hey, Gerard. What's up?" He said, stepping back to let me in.

His place was somewhat similar to mine, but instead with black and silver colors. I turned back around to him as he closed the door behind us. "I need to talk to you about something important."

"What's wrong? Are you pregnant, or something?" He laughed, and I smiled to, trying to show that I was still being dead serious.

"No, I'm not with child. This is something bigger," I said as he sat down on the couch, motioning for me to sit next to him. I couldn't help but stare at his shirt-less body as I sat down, the detailed, tribal-like tattoos covering his arms and most of his chest. "I had a nightmare about something back on Earth."

"Oh man. I hate those." He whispered, throwing the towel across the room. "What was it about?"

"What do you mean?" I wasn't sure how to explain this.

Jim leaned back, resting his long arms on the back of the couch. "Oh, ya know: Visiting your old home to see it being sold, watching your family members celebrate something without you, seeing your friends mourn and cry for you, hoping that the people you love at least _know_ that you're still around . . ."

A single tear dripped down his cheek, and I gently wiped it off with my left hand. "It's okay . . ." I mumbled, leaning down and resting my head on his shoulder. "Mine was similar."

So then I began explaining everything to him, every little detail and feeling that I shared with Gracie in my dream. Pretty soon, I ended up bawling in tears, yet wrapped in his comforting arms. "And I-I feel so hopeless. There's a chance that I will _never_ see her, or my other friends, ever again."

"I know what you mean. Before I met you, I felt like I was the only one in this place. I didn't want to move on; I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to see something important in a dream, or that I might miss them coming to this place myself." He stopped, snickering to himself.

I looked up, wiping the tears off of my own face. "What's so funny?"

"I don't really know. Our plans for tomorrow, I guess."

"And what are those plans, exactly?"

"The usual: I'm gonna teach you how to _fly_."

That morning, I was more excited than I had ever been in my life. I hopped out of bed and grabbed my shirt, only to be confused about where my wings were going to go. There were so many holes, and I smiled to myself, realizing that it would be a perfect "That's What She Said" joke. So, I did my best, only to realize how embarrassing it looked when I tried to fit my extra limbs through the back.

"Need some help?"

I froze and turned around slowly, realizing that I had left my door open from yesterday evening. Jimmy leaned against the door frame. "Uh . . . I think so," I laughed.

He walked over, first making sure that my wings had made it through. Once they were out, he then helped me getting my arms through. (Yes, I somehow managed to mess that up, as well) "Just hold still! Quit shaking!" He mumbled as he finally got them through, pulling the shirt down around my waist. "Why are you laughing?"

I calmed myself down, folding my wings in. "You kept poking me in the ribs!"

"Oooh . . . does that mean you're . . . _ticklish_?" Jim smiled with the creepiest face I had ever seen.

"OHCRAP!" I ran past him, realizing that he now knew one of my weaknesses.

The bridges shook under my weight as he chased me throughout the tree. "I'M GONNA GET YOU!" He would call.

His evil-sounding voice caused my adrenaline to speed up. "NO YOU'RE NOT!"

Pretty soon, he somehow managed to get in front of me. I crashed into him, but he stood up and wrapped his arms tightly around my back. "You're trapped now, Gee."

Yet he somehow managed to continue poking me in the ribs. I realized this after he locked the claws on our wings together. Squealing every time he jabbed his fingers against my sides, I put my hands on his chest, trying to push away from him. "S-s-s-s-s-t-t-t-t-t-o-o-o-o-o-p-p-p-p-p-p i-i-i-i-i-i-t-t-t-t-t-t J-J-i-i-i-i-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-y-y-y-y-y-y!"

Soon enough, the game stopped, and we stood there in the morning light, my hands on his chest, our wings locked together in a hand-holding-like way, our bodies pressed together, and Jimmy's arms around my back. "Oohh! Are we having a moment?" He whispered.

"Umm . . . NOPE!" I backed away and winked at him. "_Not__yet_. You'll have to teach me how to use these first!" I opened my wings and moved the fingers.

"Fair enough," Jimmy said, walking towards the main platform so that he could teach me how to fly.

"So how come we're not gonna practice at the tree?" I asked, not sure where Jimmy was really taking me.

"There's really not enough room there. Where we're going has much more open space . . . and a deeper drop." He winked at me.

"Oh man . . ." I whispered. As we continued walking through the open grass, I felt a sudden to urge to hold Jimmy's hand. But I couldn't; it might make things too weird, as if they weren't already. And it was a bit crazy; the fact that I had only been with Jim for about two days and it already seemed like I was in love with him. "So, you didn't have any other nicknames besides Jimmy?"

"Well, some of the other guys called me Jimbo on occasion, but most of the time they talked to me with my main, most known name: The Rev."

"The Rev? How in the hell did they come up with that?"

"Well, back on Earth, we were one of the biggest rock bands in the world: Avenged Sevenfold. It was one of the greatest things that could ever happen to us. And well all pretty much had stage names to make us seem even more awesome."

"Like what?" My attention was caught by what appeared to be the sound of a waterfall.

"My full stage-name was The Reverend Tholomew Plague. Our lead singer, Matt, called himself M. Shadows. Our two guitar players, Brian and Zacky were known much better as Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance. And, the shortest member of our group was Johnny Christ, our little bass player."

"Wow. That's really cool, man," I said, stopping when the waterfall-sound grew much louder and the ground seemed to end about a quarter-of-a-mile before us. "Okay, seriously, Jimmy. Where are we?"

"Let's just say that this special little place consists of a waterfall and a thousand-foot-deep canyon."

"WHA-"

I began running, following the taller man as he started ahead of me. "You're gonna love this place, Gerard!" He yelled, stopping right at a giant cliff.

I stopped as well, staring open mouthed as what lay before us: A waterfall cascaded down a rock wall that dropped to a crystal-clear pool of water. The canyon was about a thousand-feet-deep, just like he said, and it was about a few-hundred-feet across.

I got down on my hands and knees, carefully, and peered over the edge of the slab of rock that we were standing on. It seemed like my doom was waiting at the bottom, and there was no way in hell that I was going to try to fly off of this. I squealed in fear and scooted backwards. "I am NOT jumping off of that!"

"Yes you are," The Rev said, grinning as I stood back up. "You want to fly, don't you, Gee?"

"Hell yes! But not in that way!"

"Come on, Gerard. I taught myself this way."

I looked at him and pursed my lips. "Okay. I'll do it. But if I flip my shit and scream in fear, then you'd better come down here as fast as you can. Alright?"

"Don't worry! I'll be right behind you."

Taking several deep breathes, shaking my wings out of my shirt, and running my hand through my hair, I started the epic run to the edge of the cliff. _It__'__s__all__in__your__head,__Way_, I thought as my feet hit the edge of the rock, _YOU__CAN__DO__THIS_!

But once I hit open air and began falling, it seemed like I was losing control once again. "GAAAHH!" I began panicking as the water loomed up below me, my wings flailing and flapping. "JAAAAMMEESS!"

As faithful as ever, Jimmy dove over, spread his wings, and dove, grabbing my outstretched hand. "Gerard, please! Just let go and open your wings!"

"NO! That's not gonna-"

"Yes it is!" The look in eyes was just too pleading. "Trust me."

I did trust him enough, so I did the only thing that I could: I let go. But as I fell through the air once again, I opened my wings as far as they could stretch, and I was thrust into the sky slightly. "You got it, man! Now just keep flapping your wings!"

The sound of the wind in my ears caused me to not-understand him for a bit. "Fapping?"

"NO! FLAPPING!"

"OH!" I did as told, and soon I was flying along-side Jimmy. Nothing felt greater to be up high in the sky. I climbed higher and higher, The Rev following me as we soon broke through into a cloud-filled wonderland. "WOOHOO!" I cheered, performing barrel-rolls, loops, and dive-bomb-drops.

The Rev laughed, looping and gliding around me, smiling and laughing as I did the same. "Jumping off of that cliff was worth it, wasn't it?"

"Hell yeah," I winked, letting my wings relax while I glided alongside him. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Gerard," Jimmy said, suddenly blushing as he took a sharp turn away from me.

I turned in his direction, trying to catch up. "Hey! Where're you goin'?"

"Follow me and you'll find out!" He called, pulling in his wings a tad as he began heading back towards the ground. I copied his moves, soon finding myself flying above him, like a shadow. "Hey Gee . . . where are you?" His head whipped back and forth, trying to find me while I flew above him, smiling and snickering.

"Try looking up!" I yelled.

Jimmy laughed loudly and flew back towards me. Squealing in surprise, I dove back in the direction that he was originally headed in and raced forward, making sure that he wouldn't catch me.

Once we were out of the clouds, my breath seemed to catch in my throat as I saw the new landscape that we had just approached. An endless ocean lay before us, the waves shining and glittering as the afternoon sun cast its rays on the water. Even farther ahead was a giant, rock-like island that jutted out of the water.

I glided down till I was almost touching the water, so close that I actually reached my hand out and ran my knuckles across the blue land. I looked back up to see The Rev ahead of me, looking back and stopping in mid-air, still flying in one spot as he continued to stare at me.

I caught up and did the same, flying right next to him. "You've never seen the ocean before, have you?" Jimmy asked.

"No, not really. But sometimes there were pictures that we glimpsed of the oceans in magazines." My attention was caught once again by the island ahead of us. "Why don't we check that place out?"

"Sure! You take the lead!" He offered, reaching his hand forward, offering me to go first.

I smiled and began beating my wings, once again, looking back to make sure he was following. He was, and soon enough we were heading on yet another adventure.

I wiggled my bare toes in the sand, the feeling of it just making me feel happy. We had been here for a few hours, and the only evidence we needed of that was the setting sun. "Jimmy! Look at this!" I said, noticing a small sea-shell as I picked it off of the ground.

The Rev ran over from where he was sitting and looked at it as I held it in my hand. "Cool! Make a wish!"

"What?"

"It's a thing that me and an old friend made up. You make a wish, kiss the shell, and throw it out into the ocean. Wanna try it?"

"You kiss it first. It might not work after another person already tries it."

"Gerard, we're not gonna argue about this, so take your turn, and make your dream come true!" He smiled as I began thinking about my wish. Once I had made up my mind, I kissed it and gave it to him.

"Your turn," I whispered, the blood rising in my cheeks, thinking about the wish I made.

He pressed his lips to the shell, and then handed it back to me. He stuck his hands in his pockets as I tossed the shell back into the sea.

After that, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore seemed to silence the two of us. Absentmindedly, I reached and wrapped my arm around his waist, and he soon placed his arm around my shoulder. "I'm so glad that I met you, Gerard." He said as I leaned into him.

"I'm glad I met you too, Jimmy," I whispered. That was when I had an idea. I soon let go of him and began running to where our shoes were sitting in the sand.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

I pulled my boots on and grinned at him. "Come and find me!" I called, turning around and running into the jungle behind us.

It felt almost magical; the fact that we were alone on an island and he was now my best, or _only_, friend. Maybe we were something more? Well, I was just going to have to find out.

I climbed up a trail, my lungs beginning to burn and my legs began carrying me slower and slower. I didn't realize I wasn't in exactly good shape until I stopped to breathe. _How__far__away__was__I?_ I wondered, hoping to see The Rev's skinny body coming from the trees. When nothing came out of the trees, I began walking along the path once again.

The place opened up onto a huge cliff that over-looked the ocean. "Wow," I whispered. I could clearly see the sun setting now; it was like a glowing orange slice.

Sitting on the edge of the rock, carefully, I let one leg dangle over the edge. And I sat there. Just thinking to myself. I mean, there were just too many mixed thoughts going through my head; wondering where my friends were and also my mixed feelings about The Rev. Mainly, the thoughts about Jimmy. Yeah he had a nice body, his adorable smile, and those icy eyes that I could just _drown_ in. And it seemed as if he liked me as well, especially by the way that he held me earlier this morning.

But the main thing that I was thinking about was the fact that he was a guy, like me. It didn't seem . . . right. I hadn't really heard about people of the same sex liking each other. Yeah, on occasion, when me and the other Killyjoys were joking around, we would call each other "fag" or "gay", or something along the lines of that. But since there weren't a lot of people besides us and a few rebels, I never got to know about those kinds of things.

Another thing about not knowing a lot of people: we didn't have girls to love. Gracie was way too young for us, and most of the girls we met were either taken or just not interested. There were also a few times when Frankie would give me funny looks, or jokingly smack my ass, but I always saw that as a friend-like thing. I mean, we were all like brothers to each other. (Since me and Mikey were actually brothers, it was a bit too much at times.)

"Found you."

The voice startled me, and I turned around, relieved to see Jimmy coming from the same trail that I had. "What took you so long?"

"Following someone else's scent isn't as easy as you'd think," He smiled, winking. He sat down next to me. "I'm kidding, Gee. I didn't follow your scent."

"Oh, Thank God! At least you're not, like, part animal or something!"

Jimmy narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I can be an animal at times . . ." He grinned, growling and showing his teeth.

I laughed, and I embarrassingly looked away as the blush-cheeks came back.

"Why did you stay with me?" He asked.

"Huh?" I turned back to look at him.

Jimmy scooted closer to me. "Why did you stay with me instead of heading on to Heaven?"

"Oh, you know: I was scared, lost, and tired. I didn't know what was going on. I mean . . . you were the only hope for me, at that point."

My heart just about exploded when The Rev put his hand on the back of my head and kissed the corner of my lips. "Gerard, just promise me that you'll _never_ feel afraid. _For__me_."

I sat there, completely still, dumbfounded. My mouth was slightly open, my hazel-green eyes staring right into his ocean-blue ones. I pressed my hands to his chest as he turned towards me, one hand on my waist and one on my left thigh. "_I__promise,__James_." Those were the last words before I finally pressed my lips to his in a deep kiss.

We continued to kiss, our eyes closed, foreheads resting together as our lips brushed and pressed constantly. It was almost _magical_; the setting sun, the sounds of the jungle's night-life coming alive, and touching and rubbing our bodies, each touch a new feeling.

"Oh my God . . ." I whispered as The Rev pulled me closer to him, our bodies now sharing each other's warmth.

Jimmy put both hands on my thighs, firmly, and began kissing my neck and collarbone. I moaned softly; I had never felt love like this before in my _entire__life_.

He then came back to me, kissing my lips much more firmly. I gently opened my lips, letting his tongue slip in and explore my mouth. Once our tongues moved together and played with our lips, I really began to lose control.

I ran my hands through his black hair, using the other hand to unzip his sweatshirt and rub my hand up his thin torso. "Gee . . . don't."

"Oh . . . I'm sorry! What's wrong?"

"I love you so much, and I want to spend every second with you, but I don't want to go too far. I'm afraid of hurting you." Jimmy said, smiling embarrassingly.

I slid off of his waist as he pulled the zipper on his sweatshirt back up. "I'm sorry, Jimmy. I didn't mean to lose control. I mean, I really don't know what happened; I just lost control, that's all."

"That's okay." He smiled, pulling me up and holding my wrists. "Why don't we head home?"


	3. Unexpected Guests

The Rev and I didn't really end up sleeping together that night, but I guess you could say that we did. We didn't make love or anything, (As much as I wanted to) but we instead slept in each other's arms.

And it felt beautiful, especially when I was just beginning to fall into a deep sleep. When my eyes were about to fully shut for the night, I could hear him humming some sort of song. It was a nice one, and it really helped me go to sleep. It was like I knew that no more nightmares would visit me again. But they did.

This time, I was in the past: Well, more of Jimmy's past, for example, during the times when he was a young teenager. I watched as a certainly different Jimmy sat on the curb of a sidewalk, surrounded by four other kids. Two of them were currently taking long drags on their cigarettes, while the others chugged down beers.

I almost laughed at how changed The Rev looked: His golden-blonde hair was somehow sticking up all over his head, and there were hardly any tattoos on his arms; the ones that he did have were mostly winged-skulls and monsters, unlike what he had now. A pair of beaten-up glasses sat on his nose, and he occasionally pushed them up whenever they slid down his pale face.

"Hey, Matt. Where's Val?" Jimmy turned to the kid at his right, a broad-shouldered dude with short black hair and a Slayer shirt.

"Well, because of her bad grades, her loser parents decided that they wouldn't allow her to see me for the rest of the weekend," He mumbled, obviously in deep thought about his girlfriend.

"Dude, you do know about the age-old technique of sneaking out of the house at night?"

"Yeah, you have a point," He laughed and smiled.

I looked over at the two boys next to Matt. One of them had darker brown hair while the other had a head of dirty blonde. The brown haired kid whispered something in the younger boy's ear, and the blondie giggled and blushed. I smiled, since it reminded me of myself whenever I was around Jimmy.

"Brian, Zacky, you two better not be talking about me!" I looked to where the squeaky voice came from to see a tinier kid with mousy-brown hair.

"Johnny, relax. I was just telling Zacky here about my weekend plans." The brown haired kid, Brian, winked at him.

"And what are those plans?" The Rev asked, winking at Zacky.

"You guys are gross." Zacky said defensively.

Everything seemed to stop when a loud, raspy voice caused everyone, even me, to flinch. "WHERE ARE YOU?" It came from one of the houses across the street.

Brian stood up. It was obviously his mother. "I gotta go. See you guys tomorrow." He said as he crushed his cigarette with his foot and began heading home.

"I think I should go, too. My mom's gonna be worried," Johnny said, standing up and waving as he began his journey.

"C'mon, guys! Why's everyone-" Zacky was about to get up when he was interrupted.

A big truck pulled up in front of us. The window unrolled, and a man's voice came from the driver's side. "Time to go home, Zack."

As he climbed in the car and waved to Matt and Jimmy, I sat down next to The Rev as he and Matt continued their conversations. "Starting a band would be a genius idea, man," Matt urged, nudging his friend in the ribs.

"I don't know. It doesn't seem all that bad, but I don't think it will work out."

"But think about it, Jimmy; touring, fans, money, girls, groupies, and fame. It would be amazing!"

"It would. I might have to think about it, now that you mention it."

And that was when the dream cut off, for some reason. My eyes opened, and I soon saw that I was still in The Rev's room, on his bed with him. The morning light created a perfect shade on his bare torso, the shadows of his slight muscles sculpting almost perfect shapes on his body.

I, too, was without a shirt, so I moved closer to him. He was sleeping on his belly; his face was turned away from me. Putting one arm closed to his, I practically lay down on top of him. I heard him moan, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Morning, beautiful," I said, kissing his shoulder as he turned around.

"To you, too, babe," He whispered as he wrapped his arms around my lower back and pulled me against his body.

"Hhmm. . .," I moaned, putting my hands gently on his chest as I passionately kissed his lips. "So, what do you wanna do today?" I grinned as I pulled away from him, sitting on my knees and looking down at him.

"Well, I at least know that I want to spend every single minute of it with _you_, Gerard," Jimmy smiled, sitting up and kissed me again, and then got out of the bed. "But, I was also planning on doing some more exploring around this place. Maybe find some people we know?"

"Sounds_perfect_," I replied, getting up and stretching while trying to find my shirt on his bedroom floor.

Matt trudged along in the wide, open field, humming a nice tune to himself. He seemed _way_ to calm to realize the fact that he was in the freakin' afterlife, and that he had a full-fledged pair of silver-red wings. And, he had no idea where his buddies were.

That was when he began to get extremely scared. What if he was all alone? What if there truly was no-one else around here?

He looked into the sky once again, at least looking for a sign of hope. Nothing, as usual. Just the sun and baby-blue skies.

His heart almost stopped when a loud voice shrieked from above. "LOOK OUT!"

Before he could look up after turning around, a small, familiar man crashed right into him with wide open, black-and-white wings, making the both of them fall right onto the soft grass.

"I'm so sorry, dude . . ." The smaller angel sat up, and stopped before realizing who he had almost crushed. "MATT! OH MY GOD!"

"Wha . . . Johnny!" Dumbfounded, Matt squeezed his smaller friend in an intense hug, noticing that happy tears had formed in his eyes and a lump began to form in his throat.

Johnny wrapped his arms around Matt's neck, burying his head into his shoulder. "_You__'__re__okay_," He whispered.

"Well, not really," Matt chuckled, "I'm dead."

Johnny stood up, pulling the Shads up with him. "I know how you feel."

Matt smiled. "So . . . where are we?"

"I don't know . . . an open field is my guess."

"Oh, I didn't see that part!" Matt joked, running his hand through his hair. "Well, we should start heading somewhere. Who knows where we're going to end up?"

"We'll have to see, Matt," Johnny grinned as he followed the taller man across the open land.

The wind ran through my hair as I soared above the open field, alongside my boyfriend. Jimmy thought it would be a good idea for us to start looking for our friends today, and that was we were exactly doing. I hoped that soon, we would see some sort of human-like shape. But there was nothing. Just grass . . . and the occasional rock, tree, and or pond.

"Let's take a break. I'm getting tired already," The Rev said, pointing to a willow-like tree.

"Sure!" I smiled. I was a bit tired myself; we left the house only three hours ago.

As we landed on the soft grass, the first thing I did was wrap my arms around The Rev's middle, smiling as he kissed me gently. The butterflies in my stomach stirred as he took my hand and pulled me down on the grass with him.

"Gerard . . ." He whispered as I pushed him down onto the grass, crawling over him and began kissing him.

"Jimmy," I whispered back, pressing our bodies together. He then flipped me over; he was above me, this time.

Our lips constantly brushed and pressed, just like the night before. But this time, I wasn't planning on going too far . . . unless The Rev wanted to. I squeezed his hips and glided my hands up his waist.

"Guess what?" He said, resting his forehead against mine and sat on my lower stomach.

"What? And don't say chicken butt, or else you're a dead man. Again."

He smiled and laughed. "No, it's not that. I love you."

"I love you, too," I looked deeply into his eyes, "You're my world. Everything about you means the world to me: Your touch, your beautiful face, your kisses, and you yourself."

"I feel the same about you, Gerard," He smiled, flipping me over once again. "But there's one more thing that I love about you."

"And what is that, exactly?" I asked, lying down next to him, resting my hand on his chest.

"Your firm, sexy _ass_." He bit his lower lip and squeezed my butt, causing me to squeal and blush incredibly.

Thinking that he wanted more, I got back up, now straddling him as we continued to kiss. Our hearts raced like horses as our shirts flew off of our bodies, our bare skin seeming to glow in the sunlight.

The Rev and I stopped mid tongue-kiss as two distant voices seemed to come out of nowhere. "Oh crap," I whispered, getting off of him as he stood up as well, climbing into the tree, grabbing my shirt on the way.

He grabbed his as well as we sat in the tree, panting from the rough kisses that we shared as two men walked through the field towards the tree that we were hiding in.

As they got closer, I listened closely on their conversation as I pulled my shirt back on, Jimmy doing the same. " . . . And that was when I learned to never get between Jimmy and his steak tacos," The shorter man with the Mohawk laughed.

"Yeah, I know," A taller, muscular man with shorter, black hair said, slowing down his pace to keep back with the shorter man.

The Rev put his hand over his mouth, his sky-blue eyes wide with disbelief. "Wha-"

Before I could finish my sentence he had used his free hand to cover my mouth as well. He obviously wanted to hear in on the two angel's conversation.

"But do you think he's here? Like, I don't know . . . somewhere in the skies, or around us, physically?"

"Johnny, that's the third time you've asked me. Please, just tell me now, why you want to know so badly."

"Well, I-I don't know, Matt. I just miss him so much."

Matt stopped right under the tree. _How__convenient_? Gerard thought as Matt began to speak again. "Johnny, I do too. But it seems like you miss him more. Is something wrong?"

I watched as the shorter man ran his hand through his hair, sighing and looking at the ground. "It's because . . . I'm gay, dude. No joke. I wanted to see him; to see if he felt the same way about me."

"Oh," Matt said, relief seeming to cover his face. What was wrong with these guys? I looked at Jimmy. He only glanced at me, and I comfortingly squeezed his hand.

Somehow, the branch under me began to creak. I wasn't in bad shape, but it must have been the tree. Both men looked up and jumped back as the branch collapsed, sending me to the ground.

"GERARD!" Jimmy screamed, jumping down to make sure I was okay.

I was fine, but I jumped up and stood next to Jimmy as Matt and Johnny stared at us. I hid myself behind The Rev, putting my hands on his back and peaking over his shoulder. Yes, the move I just pulled was very child-like, but these two guys were definitely intimidating. Even if Jimmy knew them, I didn't want them to figure out that we were listening in on their conversation. _Especially_ the part where Johnny decided to "come out of the closet" right then and there.

"I-It can't be . . ." Matt mumbled, staring at my boyfriend. "Jimmy? Is that really . . . you?"

"Yeah, Matt. It's me . . ." He mumbled as he took a step forward, both of them soon wrapped in a tight hug.

Tears of joy sobbed out of both men, especially when The Rev hugged Johnny. Soon, everyone was smiling; I wasn't even born when these guys were younger, but it certainly seemed like old times.

"Oh, and guys. This is my . . . friend, Gerard." Jimmy said, putting his arm around my shoulder.

"Hi, Gerard. Nice to meet you," Johnny and Matt both laughed after they said the same sentence at the same time, and I couldn't help but smile as well. Even though I was currently in love with The Rev, I noticed how _adorable_ Johnny seemed, and how handsome Matt smiled. It was those little things that would make any girl, or a guy, in my case, blush and giggle.

"You too," I whispered.

"So, shall we head back to the tree?" Jimmy asked, taking his arm off of my shoulders and rolling his shoulders, letting his wings slide out of his shirt.


	4. Love Itself

"This place is amazing, Jimmy!" Matt said as he looked out of the kitchen window once again. Apparently, James forgot to tell me that one of the houses in the tree house worked as a kitchen, with a fridge, oven, cabinets and everything. I figured out that angels didn't really need to eat since I hadn't felt hungry since my arrival. But once I took a sip of the ice-cold beers that he handed out to everyone and it felt like I hadn't eaten in several months.

"Thanks, man," Jimmy said, sitting next to me at the table, holding my hand from under its shiny, wooden surface.

"So, how have things been going on around here?" Johnny asked, watching as Matthew sat next to him, across from us.

"Umm, well . . . that's the thing," He pursed his lips, and right then and there I knew what he was going to say. "Gerard here is actually my boyfriend . . ."

Matt and Johnny's jaws seemed to drop to the floor. "Okay, first, I come out of the closet, and now you two? Congrats!" Johnny said with a big grin.

I smiled, quickly giving Jimmy a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah, so now we're basically a family . . . made up of three gay-men and one straight guy."

Everyone laughed. It was true, and now that everyone was together, everything seemed well. But then I thought about the fact that we weren't all together; two of Jimmy's buddies hadn't arrived, and I hadn't heard from any of my fellow-Killjoys.

Matt stretched. "Well, I think I'm gonna head to bed."

"It's not even evening yet, dude!" Johnny complained. "We have flying to do; friends to find!"

"Johnny, I really want to do that. But I just _died_. I'm really tired."

"Yeah, that's okay, Matt. I slept half the day way when I arrived," I assured him, smiling as he stood up and stretched.

"In that case, I guess I'll stay here too. You made me feel tired, you big dummy," Johnny joked around with his taller friend, smiling as both of them headed out to separate houses.

"So, shall we continue our angel hunt?" Jimmy asked, rubbing his hand on my thigh, smiling and resting his forehead against mine.

I put both of my hands on his cheeks and kissed him long and hard, a smile tugging at my lips. "Why the hell not?"

Jimmy and I soared high above the Afterlife's earth-like grounds, constantly searching for any human shape that was recognizable to us. But there was nothing. Nothing but the moon high above our heads and stars that glittered in the navy-blue skies.

We angled our wings and headed downward, gliding like bullets towards the grass until we finally landed under the most beautiful sight I had ever seen: northern lights. They danced and moved above us like Mother Nature's home-made laser show.

"That's amazing, Gee," He whispered, coming up from behind and wrapping his arms around my middle as we gazed at the lights.

I closed my eyes and smiled, leaning into him. "I know. I've never seen anything like it!"

He sat down on the grass and pulled me into his lap. Even better, The Rev started singing a song for me. "_Baby, you're a firework/ Come on, let your colors burst/ Make 'em go, ah, ah, ah/ As you shoot across the sky, sky, sky_."

I grinned and looked up at him. "What song is that?"

"Something that was played on the radio back on Earth. It was called _Firework_, by some chick named Katy Perry. I wasn't a big fan of mainstream music, but I always found myself singing along with it while I was driving somewhere. Now that I think about it, it reminds me of you, baby."

I smiled and blushed as he kissed the top of my head. "Reminds me of you, too, angel." I whispered, giving him a little nickname as we continued to watch the lights move across the sky.

At this moment, I knew that this was the beginning of something new. Yeah, my brother and friends weren't with us yet, and The Rev's friends weren't here either, but it was perfect. I mean, this moment felt as beautiful as the first kiss I shared with James. We were alone together. It seemed like it was only me, Jimmy, the lights, and _nothing else_.

The fly home was a bit different. The Rev kept giving me looks of longing. I was right next to him the whole entire time, but it was like he wanted more of me. Hell, maybe tonight we would end up making love?

We landed in front of Jimmy's house, and I looked up at The Rev, biting my lower lip. "What is it? You seem . . . troubled. Or like you want something?" I playfully stuck my hands into the back pockets of his jeans as he gently lay his arms on my shoulders.

"Maybe I do . . ." He growled, bending down to nibble on my ear-lobe.

I moaned softly, pressing my waist onto his as he kissed my neck feverishly. My heart raced as he opened the door to his room, both of us kissing each other sloppily and running our hands down each other's bodies. He ran his hands under my shirt and over my chest and belly, pulling the clothing off of my body.

Jimmy pushed me onto the bed, tearing off his own shirt as he continued to kiss me. Our bodies rolled around on the bed, messing up the blankets and creating creaking noises as he grinded his hips onto mine. I moaned as he ran his tongue up the side of my neck. But soon enough, he pulled both of our pants off, and moved himself forward, letting his instincts take over.

Matt opened up the door to Johnny's house, hoping that his friend was alright. The weird moaning and creaking noises that came from The Rev's house had made it seem like something wasn't right at Jay's place, so he wanted to see what was going on. He opened the door to see Mr. Christ crawling all over the floor.

"Don't you dare move, Sanders!" Johnny pointed a finger at him and made sure that his taller friend didn't take a single step into his bedroom. "I lost a contact and I really don't want to be blind in one freakin' eye if you step on it."

"Sorry, Johnny," Matt smiled and got down in the same position that Johnny was in. "Want me to help you look for it?"

"Please?" Johnny guiltily smiled as the two men searched for his lost contact. He smiled as he found the small, shiny eye piece and slipped it back in, the goose bumps rising on the back of his neck when he felt Matt's hot body heat radiating against his side. "Got it. Thanks for helping me look, Matt."

"You're welcome, dude," Matt smiled as he sat Indian-style on the carpet. He shivered as he heard another cry coming from Jimmy's house; he was sure it was Gerard. "God, how long are those two gonna keep going at it? I don't think I'm gonna easily go to sleep tonight."

Johnny sat on his knees and looked right at Matt, mesmerized at the amazing hazel color of his eyes and the obvious fact of how close their faces were together. "I don't know, Shads. Its love . . . well, really hardcore stuff, apparently."

Matt snickered and moved closer to his smaller friend. "Jay, about love . . ." He put both of his hands on his shoulders and placed a gentle kiss on Johnny's lips. Johnny blushed brightly and bit his lower lip.

"I . . . I don't know what to say . . ." Johnny whispered as Matt moved closer to him, getting on his knees just like Johnny was. Matt cupped his friend's cheeks in his hands, continuing to gently kiss his perfect lips. Johnny moaned and pressed his chest to Matt's and tightly wrapped his arms around the Shadow's back, their kisses getting rougher and rougher by each passing second.

Johnny tugged at Matt's belt on his pants. "Please, Mattew . . . I can't wait anymore. I _need_ you to take me."

"No, Jay . . . I-I don't know . . ."

Johnny pulled his shirt off of his small body. "I need to feel you even more than what we're doing now."

Matt ran his hot, wet tongue up Johnny's torso, picked him up, and pushed him down onto the soft bed. "Might as well . . ."

The sunlight drifting through the window, warming up my naked body even more with The Rev's arms around me; last night was amazing, and I replayed every second of it in my dreams as the room became brighter and brighter. I was still mostly asleep, so I didn't feel Jimmy get out of the bed. I didn't hear him get dressed, didn't feel him kiss my forehead and leave the room quietly.

Finally, I awoke and looked around, still drowsy and half asleep, unaware that I was alone. I stretched, yawning and sitting up on my knees, looking around the room and at the empty bed. I grabbed his giant stuffed duck and held it close to me. "Jimmy?" I drowsily asked, even though I knew he was gone.

I rubbed my eyes and got out of the bed, stretching even more, wondering why my muscles were so stiff. But then I remembered last night, and I giggled, grabbing my underwear and pulling it on.

I didn't see my shirt anywhere, and I didn't feel like looking for it anyway. Heck, the thought of borrowing one of Jimmy's shirts just felt comforting and sexy at the same time, so I quickly grabbed one out of his drawer. This one was huge on me, with the words ACDC on the front. It was strange, and I'd never heard of this group, but it would have to do for now.

_Now, where is he?_ I thought to myself, opening the door to his room out into the fresh air. I watched as he gracefully flew and leapt from branch to branch, searching for something. "Morning, babe!" I called up to him just as he turned around, slipping something into his pocket.

He soared down to the platform that I was standing on, pulling me close in a tight hug and kissed my lips softly. "Morning to you too, Gee."

"Wanna come back to bed? Sleep in with me?" I asked, tracing circles on his chest.

"I will . . ." He looked back at a certain branch and I noticed something shiny swinging in the soft breeze. "I just need to get something. But I'll join you as soon as I can." He smiled, kissing my cheek and letting go of me as he took of back into the branches.

I went back into the house, brushing my hair quickly and plopping back down on the messy bed. I wanted to look sexy for him, so I rested my arms above my head, spreading my legs slightly just as he opened the door.

The Rev grinned at my position, moving towards me. "I thought you wanted to sleep in?"

I blushed and smiled. "Well, that too."

He pulled me up so that I was sitting on his hips, one leg on each side of his outer thighs. "First, I have something for you, Gerard." He reached into his pocket, holding a present for me in his closed fist. "Close your eyes."

I did as I was told, and I felt something being gently placed around my neck. My heart raced and the blood rose in my cheeks; there was no doubt that it was a necklace.

I opened my eyes and looked at the small pendant: it was a heart, with two bat wings on each side, something dark and beautiful at the same time. "J-Jimmy . . . it's beautiful!" Tears welled in my eyes. I looked at him as he carefully wiped the happy tears from my eyes.

"I know it's nothing really fancy, but it was the best I could find for you. Gerard, you are my world. Everything about you is perfect to me, no matter what other people say. I know we've only known each other for a few days, but these few days have been the best that I've ever had," The Rev smiled, resting his forehead against mine as I loosely wrapped my arms around his neck and he held his hands around my lower back. "I know we're not on Earth anymore, and we really can't get married, but I want you to-"

The door burst open to a frantic-looking Johnny standing in the doorway. "Jimmy! Sorry to interrupt, but we found Brian and Zacky!"


	5. A Message from Beyond

*Several hours earlier*

The sun hadn't even risen yet as Brian Haner Jr. and Zackary Baker stood in the open field together, the moon and stars just barely visible above the two young men. It seemed as if destiny had chosen them to be put in the Afterlife in the exact same spot. Brian had flown into a small pond the night before, and Zacky was sitting on the shore, but soon leapt in to save his friend.

They had been walking to . . . well, there really wasn't any particular destination for the both of them. Death was their obvious reason for their arrival; Brian's life had been taken after a tragic meeting with a street gang behind the bar that he always went to, and Zacky had just . . . died. There was no reason behind his soul being taken to heaven. The people who worked in the morgue couldn't find anything, but all of his loving fans said two words: broken heart. Brian and Zacky were the last ones after Matt, Johnny, and Jimmy lost their souls, so they were stuck together. They never went anywhere without being by each other's sides. Everywhere Brian went, Zacky wasn't too far behind. An argument between the two had caused Mr. Haner to go to the bar by himself, leaving Zacky at his house. Once the news spread about the fall of Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance was really never heard about again, until his neighbors found him cold and breathless in his own home. All alone, but hoping to find the ones that he loved in the next life.

"Zacky, I know that you have wings." Brian whispered, taking Zacky's hands in both of his. "Just show me. I won't judge you."

Zacky blushed. "But they're not pretty. They're ugly and scrawny; not like yours."

"Zacky, I'm sure that their as beautiful as you yourself."

He smiled, but still didn't want to spread his extra limbs. "Say something that will convince me."

An idea popped into Brian's head. He bent down slightly and planted a passionate kiss to Zacky's lips. Zacky gasped, closing his eyes as his heart seemed to skip a beat. Finally, with a loud tear of clothing and the _fwoosh_ of air being moved out of the way by the force of feathers, Zacky's smoky-gray and golden wings were spread behind him.

Both of them looked at each other as the kiss ended. Brian smiled, placing a palm on Zacky's left wing. "Baby boy, they're beautiful. Just like you."

Zacky smiled as he opened his lips slightly and kissed Brian again.

The beating of two more pairs of wings interrupted them. They looked up at the same time; a tall, beefy man with a buzz cut and a smaller man with a black and white Mohawk were flying towards them in the morning air. Each couple immediately knew who the other was.

I crawled off of Jimmy as he jumped up. This was obviously important. "Where are they?" The Rev asked, following Johnny back outside. Thankfully, I noticed that I was still without proper pants, so I quick grabbed my own gray skinny jeans and pulled them on.

Once I got outside, both men were nowhere to be found. Thinking that they had moved to the kitchen area, I went in that direction. But it was empty. It almost scared me to think that they had just left, but I knew that Jimmy would never do such a thing. That was when I heard laughing and yelling coming from the main platform, and I ran over to see all of the men rejoicing together with two that I didn't recognize. One was taller and well built, with bronze colored skin and dark, feathery hair. The other was somewhat smaller with paler, porcelain-like skin and unnatural red hair, like mine, even though my hair looked like I hadn't brushed it in days.

Me being shy, I walked forward across the bridge to see Jimmy holding the taller man in strong hug. Tears were streaking down both of their faces. It was obviously a scene that was just like the day before when we found Matt and Johnny. Jimmy soon turned around when he saw me walking towards the rejoicing group. "Gerard, these are my friends Brian and Zacky."

Immediately, I was able to recognize the two men that Jimmy described earlier as Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance. "Hello," I shyly whispered as Jimmy comfortingly placed his arm around my shoulder.

"And this here is my boy, Gerard." Jimmy said, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Oh, so you two are lover boys, huh?" Brian asked with a cocky smile on his face, one eyebrow raised. I already knew that this guy was going to be the sarcastic one in our little group.

"Yep. Since I was killed and ended up here." I said, blushing as all of them looked at me.

Once again, Jimmy started leading everyone to the kitchen part of the tree, and Brian caught up to me. "Wait, Gerard. How were you killed?"

I was surprised that he was even talking to me. "I was shot. Why do you want to know?"

His face paled for a moment as Matt open the door into the kitchen and everyone moved in, eager to sit down, chat, and have a breakfast beer. I sat in between him and Jimmy, Zacky sat on Brian's lap, and soon the usual reunion conversations caught up with everyone. I stayed quiet, still thinking about what Jimmy wanted to say to me before the new arrivals showed up. Of course, I answered the occasional question that his new friends asked, but for most of the time I was encased in my own thoughts.

Jimmy shook my shoulder, gently. "Gee? You okay? You look like you're gonna be sick."

"I'm fine," I mumbled, realizing that soon I did feel sick to my stomach. "I-I just need some fresh air, that's all."

I looked back at him through the window as I left, and he looked back, puzzled. Soon, my wings were spread, and I was up and away.

A cold breeze ruffled my feathers as I watched over the valley from the roof of an abandoned roof. This house wasn't part of the tree house, but something that looked like it came right out of the same design. It was just a random shack, but right now, this was the place where I could relax without having the pressure of five men all around me. I mean, Jimmy's friends were great, but I was still missing something. Or more, _someone_. It was a weird feeling, but I _needed_ to see Frankie. I needed to talk to him. Besides Mikey, he was the one man I went to whenever something went wrong, or I was having a bad day and needing to hear a soothing voice telling me to calm down or go and take a nap.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my thin arms around them while the wind began picking up, pushing my hair into my face. I simply brushed it away with a toss of my head, and that's when a bright flash arose in the field below.

I froze and looked down into the grassy field. Standing there was a white, luminescent, dragon-like creature. I didn't know what to do. It stood there and looked up at me with cold, ice-blue eyes.

Its face was smoothed and sloped, almost like a horse, yet it appeared to have no nostrils or a mouth. The front legs were short and stubby, while its back legs were long and three toed. It soon folded in its magnificent wings and raised its head. _Come_, it simply said with no mouth movement at all.

"W-who are you?" I called down as I stood up.

_That does not matter. You must follow me_. It turned and rose into the air, its legs morphing back into its thin body and the wings coming back out.

I had no choice but to follow.


	6. All In

I beat my wings furiously, trying to keep up with the dragon. _God, this thing flies fast_, I thought, gliding to the side so we were a good distance, yet parallel to one another. "You gonna tell me where we're going, yet? My friends are probably worried by now." I looked at the dragon, but it didn't look back at me.

_We will be back soon, Gerard. At this speed that we are traveling, we shall be back in less than several minutes. I want you to see something. _It glided towards the ground, landing without the grass even moving, and without a single sound.

"Umm, well, you know my name. What's yours?" I asked.

_Semaj. But that's not important right now. This is; do you see that tree over there?_ It nodded towards a large tree with a small figure huddled under. _Who is this man?_

After seeing the figure, my voice seemed to get slightly quieter, almost down to a whisper. "Are you asking me, or . . ."

_I know this human, but I need you to find out. Go forth and help him. He won't be able to see you while I'm around, so you won't be able to bring him back to your home until the sun rises and I leave. _

On shaky legs, I moved forward. The tree became larger, and the man under became more defined. His dark hair surrounded his small face, and the green and yellow vest he was wearing was his only source of warmth. One dark green-and-gold-tipped wing moved around to serve as a blanket, while the other lay limp at his side. My stomach lurched as I saw that it was terribly broken; the part where his wrist was located was bent at a heart-wrenching angle. He pulled his knees away from his chest, and I saw it was the man that I had been thinking about: Frankie "Fun Ghoul" Iero.

"Oh my God! I have to help him!" I turned back to the dragon.

_Don't bother trying to touch him. He won't feel anything. He's not aware that you are even here, with him. Like I said, you must wait until morning to care for him._

"That's ridiculous! His left wing is broken! And he's cold and miserable!"

_You listen to me! I am more powerful than you, this man, or any of your other friends. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be aware that he was here in the first place!_

"Y-You're right. I'm sorry, Semaj. I'm just stressed out a bit."

Semaj lowered his head, slightly. _I understand. Being dead must be shocking for you. Now, it's getting late. You should go home soon. _ And in a bright flash, he was gone, and I was back on the roof of the old shack.

"Gerard! Where the hell have you been?" Jimmy pulled me into a tight hug. As soon as I had landed back at the tree house, he had come out of no-where in a worried mess. "It's getting late!"

"Jimmy, I'm _fine!_" I smiled up at him, holding both of his hands. "I was only gone for, like, half an hour."

"A have an hour? Gee, the others are in bed now. You've been gone for four hours!"

_Well, it's that damn dragon's fault_, I was about to say, but I changed my mind instead. "Oh, really! Crap, I-I lost track of the time. I'm sorry, Jimmy."

He opened the door to his house, pulling me in by the hand. "That's okay, babe. I was just worried." He looked back and smiled at me.

I smiled and pulled off my shirt when something bounced back onto my chest. I looked down. It was the heart necklace that he had given me this morning. I gasped slightly, completely forgetting that he had wanted to tell me something important before we were interrupted by the arrival of his friends. "Jim . . ." I stopped dead when I realized that he had quickly gotten into the shower.

I knocked on the door to the bathroom. "Umm, Jimmy?"

"Yeah, what is it Gerard?" His voice was muffled by the sound of hot water coming from the shower head.

"Oh, well, I can see that you're busy. I'm just gonna go to bed. Forgot what I was gonna say, I-I guess," I said, completely lying to him.

"Gerard, hold on," He said just as he turned off the water. "I'm sorry for just ignoring you. What do you need to talk about?" I heard the shower curtain close the muffle of clothes, and soon a soaked Jimmy opened the door in a pair of dark blue pajama pants.

I held the necklace. "Sit down. We were interrupted this morning, and I need to hear what you needed to say."

His face paled as he sat down on the bed, pulling me towards him in the same way that we sat earlier today. "I'm sorry about that. I know I should have waited." Jimmy took a deep breath, holding my hand and rested his forehead against mine. "Gerard, I just wanted to say that I love you with all that I have. I was alone for the longest time, but when I finally found you, there was a spark of hope. I've only been with you for a few days, but those days have felt like a lifetime. I would have a companion, a friend, maybe something more, and I do now. I know that since we're not on Earth anymore that we can't go to restaurants or any other dates, we can't buy a home somewhere far out and have a family and a dog, or we can't get . . . _married_."

Tears sparked in my eyes. "A-Are you saying that . . ."

He smiled, pulling a _ring_ out of his back pocket. "Gerard Arthur Way. Will you be my husband?"

Missile Kid, or known to close friends as simply Gracie, stood on the cliff looking down in the valley. A tragic motorcycle accident had taken her young, nineteen year old life, and now she was in some magical angel land with a pair of light brown wings sprouting from her thin back.

It had been about seven years since The Killjoys had rescued her from the BLI Industries' main headquarters, and that day had haunted her ever since. She was so thankful that her friends had sacrificed themselves for her, but she was upset as well. Why couldn't she have been the one to take a bullet for one of them? Why couldn't they all have magically teleported out of that dump and back at home, or, more of an empty truck stop that was used as a current shelter?

Except for her strong attitude, most things about her had stayed the same; the crazy, Jet Star like hair, her Killjoy gear, now fastened with symbols to memorialize her fallen comrades, and her neon orange ray gun. Gracie was the same chick, but with a new road ahead of her.

Once again, looking into the valley, a set of plans began running through her head. One, she would look for someone. Two, she would begin asking if any of them had seen a man with bright red hair, a blue leather jacket, and the sass of a seventeen-year-old high school girl. Three, she would then find her other friends, and they would live happily together, end of story.

Gracie of course didn't know how in the hell to work with her wings, so walking was her only option. Of course, how to get down at the bottom of this cliff was going to be the hardest part. It went on for _miles_, it seemed like, and so the first plan was to start walking until she could find a stair-like passage way to get down from.

The dirt crunched under her sneakers as she started on her journey. The moon was an obvious sign that she should maybe find a good place to rest until morning. But hey, Captain Obvious, she was on a flat cliff face, and sleeping vulnerably out in the open was _certainly not _an option.


End file.
